Let me Introduce Myself

Hi, my name is Liz Collazo, and I just wanted to take a little moment to introduce myself. I come from a long line of family with Type 2 Diabetes, and even some Type 1 Diabetes. Both my father, and grandfather, passed away from complications related to diabetes, as well as most of my uncles. Today, my brother has the disease, and so do I. As predictable as this might be, I did not suspect I would also suffer from this disease, as I had always had low blood sugars and low blood pressure, even though I have been overweight for most of my life.

Slowly over time, some things started happening, and I just didn’t put the pieces together until it all came crashing down. I had started having very aggravated Depression issues (which I have always suffered from, but never this bad), blurry vision (which I just chucked up to getting older, since I am now in my 30s), and continuous thirst and trips to the bathroom (which I chucked up to my drinking too much soda, and not enough water.) I was also getting extremely tired, and falling asleep on the sofa starting at about 5 pm, every day. So tired, I just didn’t even want to cook anymore, to feed myself. Again, I chucked all that up to Depression. It’s just so easy to make excuses for everything, isn’t it? The last straw was when I started getting these yeast infections that just would not go away. Over and over again, I would try home remedies, OTC treatments, and even prescription meds (such as Difulcan), to get rid of them, and nothing would. The embarrassment of having to visit a clinic over and over again was harsh. Luckily, the doctor at that moment, decided to do a urine test to make sure it was not a UTI, and on a hunch, decided to check my sugar levels. Sure enough, she came back, pale as snow, telling me my sugar levels were very high and I needed to get tested, and consult with a GP immediately. I went into the lab the next day, and I had a fasting blood glucose of 235, and an A1c of 10.5%. This was back on November 17th, 2009.

Because, I have very vivid memories of how much my father suffered with his uncontrolled Diabetes, from his losing his sight, his being wheelchair bound, his kidney failure and dialisis, and yes… even the loss of his mind and memory, as he reached a state of Alzeheimer’s like behavior, I started taking care of myself immediately. I know it’s a little late in the making, and I tend to blame myself a bit for that… but I have promised my dad I will win this one for him. I have already lost over 38 lbs, and my blood sugars and blood pressure are stabilized. My postprandial blood sugars are rarely over 120, after 2 hours, and my blood pressure is rarely over 125. I follow a low glycemic load diet, as that works the best for me, and I can enjoy a variety of things without completely going extremely low carb. One of my biggest challenges now is trying to help my husband be encouraged, and on board, as he also suffers from Type 2. I found this group, while researching (online), through the Blood Sugar 101 website, and I am very glad to be here. There is a lot of good information and support, and I really look forward to getting to know all of you. We all need all the support we can get.

Thanks for creating this network.

Liz

Welcome to our community Lizmari! Sounds like you are doing a great job with weight loss and blood sugar control! Congrats on that!!! Hope to see you in many of our discussions.

Nice to meet you Liz, I’m Sara and I’m new here. I was diagnosed at the end of Aug 2009 with type 2 diabetes. My diagnosis also came after severe bouts of yeast infections. Glad to hear your making strides in weight etc. Keep up the good work